Post World Cup Selfies

My World Cup project is done but I was too busy with the TdF to get it blocked. Sadly, even after the re-do, my ruffles are still dud spuds. It is still too floppy to pleat. I even pinned all of them up during blocking to try to convince them to show some definition.

 That's just pitiful.

I am happy with the new improved size but the official mugshot left much to be desired. It's a rather ratty looking thing, I'm afraid.

 I spent an hour in the bathroom trying to show how it fits.

 Either I looked presentable or the scarf did.

I gave up and just got silly. What else are you going to do when knitting attacks? This certainly turned out to be an ugh...

TdF 2014: The End of the Road

 I don't have a lot to show in the way of finished things for this year's Tour but I did do a lot of things.

 These are the collages I posted from time to time in the Tour de Fleece group on Ravelery. You can only post one photo a day on the stage thread so collages are all the rage.

 The most obvious thing I learned this year was how to make more interesting collages. They look kind of squished on Blogger. They look better on Ravelry.

These are from Fotor Photo Collage which is free and can be found here. 

 Those 21 days sure went fast. It's going to take that long or longer for me to clean up the fiber mess I've got all over the house.

 Well, this is it for another year. I've got the Shetland, Merino and Gulf Coast all plied. I've still got tons of this fiber left so when I find a project for them, I'll be back at it again until I get the yardage I need. As for all those spindle projects....there's always next year.

À la prochaine!

It's Always Something

 Considering I have only one thing on the needles at this time, I haven't had much luck in the knitting department. These two balls of sock yarn I recently spun already have an issue that I discovered when I used it to cast on. This ball is lime greenish.....

 ....and this one is more olive. I used the same fiber out of the same bag to spin it so I'm not sure I know what's going on here.

 I'm just glad I noticed it before I started knitting with it or I would have had socks of two different colors and that would have made me crazy. What I am doing to remedy this is to knit one row with one ball and one row with the other. It's a real pain in the patootie and gives you that jog thing up the back. Yes, I know there is a remedy for that but I'm too lazy to do anything about it but complain. Grrr....

I do like the little stripes I added from the leftover singles but I can tell you that all in all, I am disappointed at how the colors are turning out. Who knew that when you mix lime green singles with rainbow colored singles that you would get a harvest gold, avocado and burnt orange effect right out of a vintage 70's kitchen? Bummer.

Running Out of Road

 The announcers on the Tour de France said that the riders are "running out of road". So am I. I've been frantic all week because it looks like I won't have much to show off on Sunday when it's all said and done.

 I did get some plying done yesterday. I took that bobbin of neon green and wound it on the winder and them plied from both ends to use it up. It's always risky with a ball that big but this time it worked like a charm.

 Now I have a lime skein to go with the turquoise. Nice.

 I also washed the last of the Gulf Coast and dyed it navy. I used a new method. I plopped it into a big baggy and sat it up in some Rubbermaid then gave it a few spins in the microwave.

 Perfect. Not a speck of dye left in the water.

 In this humidity it's not drying fast enough. I don't have time to wait, I need that dry now.

 Back inside I've been tearing up the batts into strips.

 I'm going to randomly spin them into one bobbin of singles for some crazy stripes.

I'm going across the five hooks and then switching colors. This should give me some big color repeats but more importantly it's going to give me something fun to do for the remainder of the Tour. Everything else has become a big yawn.

Good Times

 Last Sunday we had the rare opportunity to gather as a family to celebrate a big accomplishment.

 Middle Sister's son graduated from college.

 Little Sister hosted the event and along with her dear Daughter in Law came up with all the creative touches that made the day so special. We had diploma napkins....

 ...and graduation caps with stars hanging everywhere along with plenty of pennants, balloons and streamers.

 Even dessert was in his school colors. The day was perfect. Except for the part where I emailed a gift certificate to the new graduate the morning of the party-the surprise party. Surprise!

Still Adrift in the Gulf

 All that Gulf Coast fiber dried nice and fluffy. My new washing technique worked like a charm. It's still pretty awful fiber as I was down to the really yucky part of the fleece but it's still fun to play with.

 I spent a happy hour or so picking it while watching the Tour. I've learned less is more when prepping fleece for the carder. I spent lots of bucks on all kinds of tools but my hands work best.

It's hard to tell but this is a grocery bag of picked through fluff ready to card.

 It's a quick and easy carding job once it's in the fluff stage.

 I had three more batts in no time....

...but it didn't solve my dilemma as the new batts don't come close to matching the old batts colors. I'm thinking I'm going to just tear into them all and just spin them as random stripes. I think. That's what I get for not ever thinking too far ahead.

Gulf Coast Blues, Continued

 The next Gulf Coast batts to be spun created a big dilemma. When I was done the first batt, this is all I had. The second batt plied with this one wouldn't give me very much finished yarn so back to the drawing board.

 I decided to spend a day washing the rest the Gulf Coast fiber in the stash shed. It was going to be a big job because it was really dirty.

 I had an unusual audience while I was working. This is Mommy. She is the elusive mother of the four kittens I rescued from the woods. It's weird that Mommy would hang out with me as she is very skittish. I rewarded her with some treats so maybe, after four years, she is ready to forgive me for having trapped her to have her spayed. After all, I did take all of her kids off her hands. She really has no patience with her grownup babies anymore and gives them a good swat whenever she can. I can totally relate.

 That fleece was so dirty I had to soak it for two days, changing the water often.

 See? Yucky poo. Literally.

 I still have my fleece draining hook in the front yard. The Mister was just asking me about it the other day. I think he wants it gone. It's staying.

 On washing day I decided to try and wash the piles of fleece the way I wash the locks.

 The theory is that if you use lots of soap you can scrub without any danger of felting. It works on the delicate Merino so why wouldn't it work on the more sturdy Gulf Coast?

 I had a regular assembly line going. Wash, rinse, wash, rinse.

 I only had four bags full so I was done in no time.

 I used hot sink water mixed with simmering water from the stove to get the water really hot.

 It looks pretty clean.

 Next up was adding color. I wanted to try and come close to the colors of the batts I already had but I knew that was going to be hard. I didn't write anything down as usual. Shame on me.

 I stuffed the clean fiber into the jars...

 ...and put them on the stove to simmer for a while.

The fiber seems clean enough and didn't felt so washing was a success but the colors are only so-so. I think I may have to come up with a new plan for this fiber because lots of little skeins are going to be pretty useless. I think it may be time to just get wild and crazy with it-after all, it's probably just going to end up as a stripe in a scrap blanket someday.